1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a hinge device, and in particular, to a hinge device for a portable electronic device.
This application is based on Japanese Patent Applications No. Hei 10-344694 and Hei 11-132005, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
2. Background Art
Various types of compact electronic devices such as cellular telephones, portable computers (with or without a communication function), electronic note-books, and game computers have come into general use with advances in electronics technology in recent years. These compact devices have flip members (hereinafter referred to as flip-type electronic device), which can be closed when the device is carried, and can be open to a specific size to make the device easy to operate when the device is in use.
For example, a cellular telephone has a flip member which can be opened and closed. Recently, a detachable flip member has become in wide demand.
To make the flip member detachable from the device main body, the lip member is attached to the device main body by means of a hinge device. The conventional hinge device becomes complicated and large because it must includes a mechanism to maintain the flip member at a predetermined angle when the flip member is opened and closed. To reduce the size of the hinge device, the hinge device must be simplified, and as the result, the flip member cannot be securely held at the predetermined angle. In addition, electrical connections between the device main body and the flip member cannot be established in a small limited space. When the detachable mechanism for the flip member is equipped with the conventional hinge device, these problems become more serious. Therefore, an improved hinge device, which reduces its size while maintaining the mechanisms for securely holding the flip member, for making the flip member detachable, and for establishing the electrical connections, become in demand.